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Release No: 332-13May 14, 2013

Army Announces Investigation at Fort Hood, Texas

The Army announced today that an Army sergeant first class assigned to III Corps, Fort Hood, Texas, is under investigation for pandering, abusive sexual contact, assault and maltreatment of subordinates.

The ongoing investigation is being conducted by special agents from the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, commonly known as CID.

The soldier had been assigned as an Equal Opportunity Advisor and Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention (SHARP) program coordinator with one of the III Corps’ subordinate battalions when the allegations surfaced.

The accused was immediately suspended from all duties by the chain of command once the allegations were brought to the command’s attention. There have been no charges filed or preferred at this time.

To protect the integrity of the investigative process and the rights of all persons involved, no more information will be released at this time.

During testimony last week before the House Appropriations Committee Defense subcommittee, Secretary of the Army John McHugh expressed anger over sexual assaults and sex abuse crimes in the military.

“This is so contrary to everything upon which the Army was built,” he said. “To see this kind of activity happening in our ranks is really heart wrenching and sickening.”

McHugh told members of Congress that Army leaders are focused on efforts to prevent sexual assaults.

“As I said to our new brigadier general corps when I spoke to them about two weeks ago, ‘You can do everything from this point forward in your military career perfectly, but if you fail on this, you have failed the Army’,” he said.

Secretary McHugh apprised Secretary Hagel this morning of these allegations and the Army is moving forward, along with the other services, with Secretary Hagel’s directive to re-train, re-credential and re-screen all sexual assault prevention and response personnel and military recruiters.